10 Amazing Actors Yet To Realise Their True Potential

3. Idris Elba

Revisiting HBO's television masterpiece The Wire recently on blu-ray (which I can't recommend enough - if you haven't seen it this should be at the top of your watch list) and Idris Elba's performance as gangster Stringer Bell remained one of the show's many highlights. It also marked a new phase in his career, catapulting him to the next level where film roles began to open up. Elba's film roles have been diverse from the start - he's been in everything from huge blockbusters such as Prometheus and Pacific Rim (although the less said about Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance the better) to playing one of recent history's most complex and compelling figures in Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom (a fantastic performance marred by a weak script and uneven direction). More recently he played an African warlord using child soldiers in Beasts Of No Nation, the first feature film to be produced by Netflix and further proof that Elba deserves to be cast in challenging roles. It might be a while before something as potentially iconic comes along - for the time being, blockbusters like Thor: Ragnarok, Finding Dory and Star Trek Beyond are the kind of films Elba's fans have to look forward to.